10 Times DX Absolutely Buried Other Wrestlers
3. The Spirit Squad
Speaking of credibility, imagine the lack of it NXT would have if D-Generation-X doled out a beating to The Undisputed Era on Raw pre-Crown Jewel, stuffed them in a crate backstage and slapped a 'Destination: NXT, Full Sail University' sticker on the box. That's what they did to WWE old feeder system OVW in 2006.
Sure, The Spirit Squad worked a comedic male cheerleader gimmick that made them fair game to be the butt of jokes, but several of the members were considered promising. Johnny (Jeter), Kenny (Dykstra) and Nicky (the future Dolph Ziggler) were all guys WWE had high hopes for. It didn't make sense then for DX to ridicule them, job them out and then, on screen, demote them back to developmental.
The message was clear: the stars of OVW were second-rate and not in WWE's league.
Nobody aside from Ziggler would survive this humiliation, and it'd take years before he was able to shed the stink of the moment and reinvent himself as a new character. Meanwhile, Dykstra and Jeter were released in 2008 and (barring a short reprise for Squad members Kenny and Mikey in 2016) were never seen again.